


Make The Flowers Grow

by PondAmyPond



Category: Les Misérables (2012), Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Schönberg/Boublil
Genre: F/M, Éponine dies AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-20
Updated: 2016-09-20
Packaged: 2018-08-16 09:11:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8096371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PondAmyPond/pseuds/PondAmyPond
Summary: What if Marius didn't love Cosette? How would Éponine's death have gone then?A short AU Drabble because I like to tear out my own heart. Éponine's luck dictates she can only have her happy ending for a few seconds.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I kept trying to find a fic where Marius chooses Éponine a little too late and I couldn't find one, so I wrote it. Let me know what you think! If enough people want me to I'll write more Les Mis stuff, I really enjoyed this!

The blood is so so red against the dirt and paleness of her skin that it almost looks like it is glowing. She shouldn't have come back. He shouldn't have sent her with the letter at all. Marius grabs for her as she sways and starts to collapse. Eponine sinks into his arms as if she had always been there. He pulls her close to him, panic starting to overwhelm him as he touches her gently realising the full extent of her wounds. How could they have shot her? How could he have let them? A surge of anger rises in his chest, anger at the soldiers, anger at himself, anger at Cosette. 

"I... I gave her father your letter," Eponine whispers, her voice barely audible and filled with pain. Marius nods absently. Cosette doesn't matter, the letter is unimportant compared to this. "I hope... I hope she makes you happy, Monsieur Marius," Eponine adds, wincing as if the words added to her wounds.

  
Marius stares at her, confused.  
"Happy? With Cosette?" He questions, completely lost. What on earth did Eponine mean? 

"Don't you fret, Monsieur Marius," Eponine manages a pained smile, "I don't mind. She is beautiful."

Marius starts with sudden understanding. "No!" The exclamation jolts Eponine in his arms and she cries out in pain.  
"Oh 'Ponine I'm sorry!" He smooths back her hair and strokes his thumb gently down her cheek. "I just meant, you've got it wrong." Him and Cosette?! How could he have let Eponine think that? Cosette was a pretty girl, he supposed, but a friend and nothing more.

  
"But you went to her house, and sent her that letter?" Eponine's face was a mess of confused feelings. Marius touched her face gently. That stupid letter.

  
"She asked me to go with her to England. I was writing to say no."

Eponine let out a small gasp of pain and spasmed a bit in his arms, but her face now held a tiny flicker of hope. "Why? Why did you not go with her?" she asked.

  
Marius smiled at the girl in his arms, cradling her cheek in one hand, the other pressing on her wound to stop the bleeding. "Because I could never leave you, 'Ponine. Never."

  
The words had the effect of a ray of light across the girl's face. She smiled at him, a broad grin that was full of love and hope. Then suddenly she cried out in pain, her face crumpling as she grabbed her side. Marius panicked, screaming for Grantaire to fetch a medic.

  
"'Ponine! Hold on, it's going to be fine. I'm here," he reassured her, cradling her tightly.

  
"That's all I need to know," she replied, a small smile on her face. Then she looked past him at the sky. "Look, Monsieur Marius, it's raining."

  
She was right, the clouds had opened up and the barricade was being sprinkled with tiny droplets of water as if the sky itself was crying for her. Marius didn't take his eyes off Eponine, but he started to reach for a coat or something to cover her with.

She reaches out a hand to stop him. "A little fall of rain can hardly hurt me now," she insisted.

Marius could feel her giving up.  
"No! Eponine, you will be okay," his voice trailed off as a sob caught in his throat, "you have to be."

  
"You're here, that's all I need to know. And you will keep me safe, and you will keep me close."

  
Marius nodded furiously, leaning closer to hear her as her voice faded further.

  
"And rain will make the flowers grow," she whispered to him.

  
"As beautiful as you. I love you, Eponine," he replied softly. He felt her smile and kiss his cheek softly, then suddenly her body went limp.

  
"No!" Marius roared, a frenzied desperate panic driving him completely. Pulling away he saw that her eyes had slid shut and there was a tiny hint of a smile about her mouth. "Wake up! Eponine, wake up!" He shook her roughly, lessening as the seconds passed and he got no response. "Please... Please Eponine, you have to wake up."

Marius felt like a helpless child, staring down at the face of the girl he had loved for years. It had taken him so long to realise it. Too long it seemed.

He remembered the moment he had woken up to what she meant to him. It had been a couple of days after he'd met Cosette, and he and Eponine were sneaking out to meet her (he was such an idiot why hasn't he thought about how that would look?). Eponine had gone out in front to check the street was clear, and she had turned back to smile at him that it was safe. Her face had been bathed in moonlight and glistening with rain. She looked like a goddess, as if all the dirt and hardship of her life has melted away and all he could see was how beautiful she was. And he had been so scared that he would mess it up, he had done nothing. He thought he would never regret anything as much as he regretted not kissing her at that moment.

  
Looking down at the serene face in his lap, a film of tears blinded him and he began to sob as he cradled Eponine against his chest. He felt a hand on his shoulder (Enjolras he thought), but all he could think about was the lifeless form of the girl he loved in his arms.

  
"I love you, Eponine. I love you. And I'm so sorry."


End file.
